The search for a better light bulb has been going on for years. Recently the development of high-brightness LEDs has vastly improved the efficiency and reliability of these light sources. However, the LED operates in a fundamentally different way than incandescent or even fluorescent lamps. This means that LEDs generally are not connectable directly with existing lighting fixtures. Ballast circuits are used to make existing lighting fixtures operable with LEDs. Ballast circuitry is often complex and expensive, making LED lighting expensive to operate. Another drawback of current ballast circuits is that they generally do not work consistently with conventional phase-modulated dimmer switches.